Time to Treatment Utilizing a Tele-Retinal Referral System for wAMD and DME: A Pilot Study

Within the province of Ontario, there are a limited number of retinal specialists for a large and geographically diverse population of 13.5 million people in 2012. Because the majority of these specialists are located in larger urban centers, many rural patients have difficulty travelling the significant distance from their communities to the city. Currently in Ontario optometrists are responsible for triaging retinal eye diseases; emergency referrals such as endophthalmitis are organized by same-day telephone consultations, while more routine referrals are scheduled by fax.

This current method of triage has particular important considerations. Because of the limited number of retinal specialists long wait times can lead to permanent vision loss if the referral is inaccurate, where the patient should have been seen and treated sooner instead of later such as the case of wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD) and Diabetic Macular Edema (DME). In addition, essential vision tests such as fluorescein angiography (FA) are often available only in a hospital setting rather within physician or optometrists' office. For patients from rural or remote communities, this inconvenience could result in lost wages, a long return trip back the next day or even an overnight stay.

Teleophthalmology is a branch of telemedicine that delivers eye care through digital equipment and telecommunications technology. It offers some unique advantages, such as the ability to be integrated with electronic health records, the ability to be viewed by multiple members of the health care team, and potentially reduce wait times and travel times to the ophthalmologist. Within Canada, there have been different teleophthalmology initiatives to provide access to specialists to optometrists and primary care practitioners particularly in rural and remote areas, improving ophthalmologic care and reducing unnecessary patient travel expenditures. These teleophthalmology systems can include fundus and Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) images to aid the ophthalmologist in more accurately diagnosing and triaging the referral. Hanson et al. in a retrospective case series noted that tele-referrals to retinal specialists from optometrists reduced average travel time, travel distance and the number of office visits to retina specialists while improving efficiency of clinical examination, testing, and treatment.

However, there currently is no research known to the study team that actively compares the time to treatment for patients based on teleophthalmology referral and assessment versus a conventional paper referral system from optometrists to retinal specialists. For conditions like wAMD and DME related to Diabetic Retinopathy that are often referred via teleophthalmology, the difference in time to treatment could prevent vision loss. The inclusion of fundus and OCT images in teleophthalmology could also improve triage accuracy and prioritization of referrals and appointments to the retinal specialist. This study focuses on comparing the time to treatment for a tele-retinal referral system to a paper referral system by focusing on two prevalent retinal conditions: wet AMD and DME. The results could demonstrate that tele-ophthalmology can reduce the time to treatment for patients with wet AMD and DME in Ontario, improving access to retinal specialists and allowing for more efficient triage of patients.